Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (Sweden) carried out an epidemiological study on the causes ofautism. According to the conclusions of their work published in the medical journal Molecular Psychiatry, there is a link between Stein-Leventhal syndrome and autistic disorders. Indeed, women who produce an excess of male hormones are more likely to give birth to a child with autism disorders.
Scientists analyzed medical data by studying the medical records of all children aged 4 to 17 born in Sweden between 1984 and 2007. Researchers established a statistical link between Stein-Leventhal syndrome (women with this condition (or polycystic ovaries, PCOS), between 5 and 15% of women of childbearing age, secrete an abnormally large amount of androgenic hormones, including during pregnancy. pregnancy) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
“We found that a diagnosis of PCOS in the mother increased the risk of ASD in the child by 59%,” said psychiatrist Kyriaki Kosidou of the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Karolinska Institute. “The risk was even greater in mothers with both PCOS and obesity, a common condition with more marked excess androgen production,” she added.
Further studies must validate these conclusions
“It is too early to make specific recommendations to clinicians in terms of care for pregnant women with PCOS, even if awareness of the link (presumed between PCOS and ASD) could allow earlier detection of ASD” in children at risk , according to Renee Gardner, co-author of the study.
Autism in France
The National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) estimates that 100,000 young people under the age of 20 have a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) in France and that childhood autism affects around 30,000 people. between them.
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